<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Wanting To Cry, I Pretend To Be A Cat by Pineapple_Daddy</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26773930">Wanting To Cry, I Pretend To Be A Cat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pineapple_Daddy/pseuds/Pineapple_Daddy'>Pineapple_Daddy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Digimon Adventure tri.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, if I ever finish this, miko is the Yagami family cat btw, those who have seen the movie this is based off of, you will know, you will understand why im tagging the cat of all characters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:14:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26773930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pineapple_Daddy/pseuds/Pineapple_Daddy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A single mask is all it takes to hide your true self. To get caught in a web of secrets and a double life that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Of course, it's only a matter of time until it unravels into an even bigger mess. None of that is to mention the blossoming love caught in the middle of it all.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ishida Yamato | Matt Ishida/Yagami Taichi | Tai Kamiya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Mask</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Take my garbage</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Summer festivals are supposed to be fun and happy and spent with those who care for you just as you care for them. That was the point of all the decorations and the stands selling snacks and the games that were rigged against you unless you cheated the system. Groups of children would run around and try out every game and candy they could find, families would take in the atmosphere together, and couples would be entirely absorbed in each other. And yet, even though I had come to Tenno Matsuri with my own family, I still found myself utterly alone.</p>
<p>The people around me might as well have been scarecrows with how little attention I paid them and the countless paper lanterns could’ve been dim candles from how much I noticed. Even the colorful stands with their equally colourful prizes and candies were practically the same as any old building back in town. It was just like any other day, really. Or, I would say that if it weren’t for the fact that I had been having fun and enjoying the festival just a few minutes ago.</p>
<p>I was only walking around, seeing the sights with my family, when I caught sight of kids I knew back in middle school directly in our path. It should’ve been expected that I’d see someone I recognized considering how busy Tenno Matsuri is every year. But still, I would’ve preferred to avoid someone from middle school specifically for a lot of reasons. So I made up the excuse that I was going to go meet up with a friend and left on my own, all to avoid a part of my past I’d rather forget ever happened.</p>
<p>That was how I found myself wandering around so aimlessly I ended up walking down a desolate stone path lined with lanterns leading away from the festival. I didn’t really care though, it was kind of nice to get away from all the noise, even just for a little bit. But I couldn’t say the same thing for my inescapable thoughts about how the past always seemed to come up at the worst times. I only wanted to move on, yet it wouldn’t leave me alone, making me feel like crap and like I didn’t belong anywhere.</p>
<p>That’s when I heard the offer, “Interested in becoming a cat?”</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>“Good morning, Matt!,” I said, running up to the person in question.</p>
<p>“For the last time, that isn’t my name. It’s Yamato,” he said in return, giving me a glare.</p>
<p>Of course, I knew that and, of course, I expected him to say that. There was a reason that the name “Yamato Ishida” was well-known among everyone that we went to high school with. He was famous for being the biggest loner on this side of the planet, always giving people the cold shoulder and never hanging out with anyone. Except for maybe the band kids every once in a while, but even they said he only shows up to the club sometimes to play the bass guitar. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, ever since Tenno Matsuri, I had made it my own personal goal to try and make him my friend, no matter how long it took.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know your name. There’s an urban legend about you at school, after all,” I said as I walked backwards in front of him. “It’s a nickname. It’s like a play on ‘Yamato’ but just the middle part.”</p>
<p>“Why?,” Yamato asked.</p>
<p>“Why what?”</p>
<p>“Why give me a nickname?”</p>
<p>“Beeeeecause, we’re friends? Or at least, I think we are,” I answer.</p>
<p>Yamato sighed at my explanation. “No, we aren’t. You just haven’t left me alone since Tenno Matsuri. It’s been several weeks, give it up. I’m not interested.”</p>
<p>“Sheesh, we aren’t friends with that attitude,” I pouted.</p>
<p>“Can you just go away?,” Yamato asked, looking like he was already too tired for everything. “That ‘urban legend’ about me, you know there’s a reason it exists, right? It’s because I like being alone, so I’d prefer if you left me that way.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure about that? Do you really believe that?”</p>
<p>It seemed that my sudden seriousness caught Yamato off guard because he stopped walking and stared at me. “And what’s that supposed to mean?,” he asked skeptically. But I didn’t answer, I simply returned his intense gaze.</p>
<p>And then I laughed to break the tension and said, “Ha! You should see the look on your face, comedy gold!”</p>
<p>“Answer my question, damnit!”</p>
<p>“Nah, I don’t think I will,” I said as I turned to face forward. “Anyways, see you in class!”</p>
<p>With that said, I ran off ahead to school, leaving Yamato behind before he could grill me for an answer. As much as he said he preferred being alone, I knew better. I knew that that cold exterior was just a front he put on. But how I knew that was something he could never find out.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>At lunch time, I met up with my childhood best friend, Sora, to talk and eat on the roof of the school. “So how did this morning go? Same as all the others?,” was the first thing she asked me before we even opened our bentos.</p>
<p>“Same as all the others,” I answered.</p>
<p>“That’s what I thought,” Sora sighed. “I seriously think you should give it up. It’s been several weeks since you started this whole thing and he’s still just as frosty as he was day one.”</p>
<p>“No can do I’m afraid. I said I was going to get him to open up and I will,” I argued. “Even if it takes months. Maybe even years.”</p>
<p>“Jeez, you really are serious about this.”</p>
<p>“Damn right!”</p>
<p>“But I still don’t get it,” Sora said in between bites of rice. “Why Yamato, of all people? If you wanted to make a new friend, there are tons of other people that go to this school. People that would be much more open to the idea. This isn’t like middle school, people here don’t know about ‘that’.”</p>
<p>The off-hand mention of the ‘middle school incident’ was a sore spot, but she did have a point. Aside from Sora, hardly anyone I went to middle school with went to the high school I go to now. Even the few people who did trickle over didn’t know about since they were either in different grades or weren’t involved at all, let alone filled in on what happened. No one here knew me or knew what happened back then. It was like getting handed a fresh start, but even so, the pain would never go away. Not completely. My desire to be friends with Yamato is an exception, separate from that entire mess.</p>
<p>“I know. This isn’t going to be like middle school,” I said. “This is different, I promise.”</p>
<p>“I just don’t want you to get hurt again.” And bless Sora’s heart for caring so much. I just wish she didn’t sound so somber saying it.</p>
<p>“Do you really wanna know why I’m so determined?,” I asked.</p>
<p>Sora hummed her answer as she picked at her food with her chopsticks.</p>
<p>“So, you remember the festival and how I showed up to school the next day covered in scratches and gauze?”</p>
<p> “Yeah, you looked like you were mauled by a cat AND strangled at the same time.”</p>
<p>“Well, the thing is…”</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>“Interested in becoming a cat?”</p>
<p>“W-What?,” was my graceful answer. I looked up from the stone path below me to see an overweight man standing next to a wooden rack displaying cat-shaped noh masks.</p>
<p>The man took a puff out of his pipe and blew out a cloud of smoke. “I don’t believe I stuttered,” he said. Looking at him, he appeared to be somehow not quite human. Who was this guy? Just an ordinary, if weird looking, mask seller? If that was the case, he picked a bad spot to sell masks, there was no one around except us.</p>
<p>“You look like you have a pretty troubled life,” he continued. “If you become a cat, then you don’t have to worry about any of the things that plague you in your day to day life. All you have to worry about is eating and sleeping and lazing about! What a wonderful, pampered cat life indeed.”</p>
<p>“And how does that help me, exactly?,” I asked. He was right that I had problems, pretty big ones at that, but so does everyone else on the planet. I wanted to know how turning into a cat would help me with my problem specifically, if that was even really possible.</p>
<p>“Well, if I had to take a guess, you strike me as someone who gets ostracized and cast out by society. Perhaps for something about yourself that you can’t help or change?,” the mask salesman said and he was right on the mark. “From the look on your face, I’ll take it that I was correct? Then I know exactly how becoming a cat can help you.”</p>
<p>“Really? How?” There had to be a reason why I found myself in this strange situation and why this strange man knew about the things I was going through. It couldn’t have been chance that he guessed right on the first try, but even if it was a lucky shot, then it’s possible I’ll be lucky enough to get something out of this anyways. It was just so strange, strange enough to be a stroke of incredibly good fortune. Just as much as it could be bad fortune, but that was a chance I was willing to take.</p>
<p>“Oh, showing interest are we? That’s what I like to see,” the mask seller chuckled. “You see, as a cat, you won’t need to worry about what others think of you or about how you fit in. You’ll get to be pampered and loved by the humans who just can’t resist taking care of a cute cat. It doesn’t matter who you really are, they will love you and you will have somewhere to belong. So, wha’d’ya say? Wanna give it a try?”</p>
<p>He made it sound appealing, but still. It was hard to believe that something like that was really possible, even if I was willing to give it a shot. “Is it really possible to become a cat?,” I asked.</p>
<p>“Of course! Just put on one of these fine cat-themed noh masks and do a somersault and voila! You’ve become a cat! I’ll even let you try one for free, if you don’t believe me.”</p>
<p>If he was letting me try it for free, then there was really no reason to not agree to it. Worst case scenario, it didn’t work and I’d end up with a free decorative cat mask. They were pretty nice and cute, so my sister would probably appreciate it if I ended up giving it to her. But if it did work…</p>
<p>There weren’t very many masks to choose from, so I ended up picking a mask that had a brown tabby design to it and put it on. I took a few steps away from the salesman and his masks and did as I was instructed to do: I somersaulted. I was pretty athletic having played soccer for years and years, but I didn’t expect the somersault to be as easy as it was. It was almost like I was floating as I did it and I was enveloped by a soft, pink glow before it and that light feeling disappeared when I landed on all fours.</p>
<p>After that brief moment, I quickly realized that the world around me was much bigger than before. The trees and the lanterns lining the path towered over me like skyscrapers and the stone path itself was wider than it reasonably should’ve been. And when I looked down at my hands, I saw that they had been replaced by brown paws, striped fur, pink pads, claws, and all. As I examined myself further, it became even more apparent that I really had become a cat, with a bushy tail and whiskers and everything.</p>
<p>“W-Wha- I really did become a cat!,” I exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Enjoy your new cat life!,” the mask seller said, but he sounded farther away than before. When I turned to look at where he had been, both he and his humble set-up were gone: vanished without a trace.</p>
<p>“Oh, but do be careful. Cats are very different from humans and it’ll be awhile before you can change back after the first transformation.”</p>
<p>With that last statement, the mask seller was well and truly gone. I was completely free to roam around and do whatever I wanted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Like the mask seller had said, I couldn’t turn back into a human right away. I tried somersaulting several times, but each time I remained a cat. So far nothing I had been told was a lie, however, so I resigned myself to having to play the waiting game. Instead, for the time being, I decided to explore around town from the viewpoint of a cat. </p>
<p>At first, I thought about going back to the festival, but I quickly realized that was a bad idea. It didn’t sound very fun to have to run between people’s legs, always worried about getting stepped on in such a big crowd. Not to mention all the curious hands of children who wanted to play with a cat and who knows how awful that could end up being. It’s not that kids were always rough with animals, it’s just that I didn’t want to risk the chance of getting hurt.</p>
<p>In the end, I avoided the festival entirely to opt for exploring anywhere else instead. Which turned out to be very boring. Since nearly everyone was at the summer festival, the streets were almost entirely devoid of life with nobody walking around and barely any light coming from the nearby buildings. I did pass by a girl calling out for someone, though. Or maybe she was calling out for her pet. She did give me a weird look, like she was trying to figure out if she had seen me before or something. It was dark, so if she was looking for her pet, she might’ve mistaken me for them.</p>
<p>That was a weird thought. I could be easily mistaken for someone’s pet now that I was a cat. What would happen if someone did try to keep me for a pet? I supposed I could probably escape them eventually and then go back to being human, but what if I couldn’t do that? What if I got stuck in some stranger’s house for days or weeks or even months before I could escape? I could only imagine the kind of chaotic missing person’s case that would lead to.</p>
<p>As I was about to continue that line of thought, a growl brought my attention back to the real world. It was the tell-tale growl of a cat that was ready to pounce and I looked around for the source, instinctually bristling all the while. That was another weird thing, how being a cat came to me like second nature. It was weird to think about, yet in the moment, it didn’t feel weird at all. Anyways, my eyes eventually landed on an orange tabby maine coon stalking me from its hiding place in the bushes. </p>
<p>Before I could react, the maine coon pounced on me, probably meaning to be playful. I knew maine coons were supposed to be huge cats, but now being a cat that was currently trapped under one, it was especially apparent how huge they really were. And now I knew how unintentionally dangerous they could be, too. This maine coon probably thought it was just playing around, but its “harmless” biting and scratching were actually pretty painful. It felt like I was getting assaulted more than anything.</p>
<p>“Would you get offa me!?,” I shouted at it, but that didn’t seem to help anything.</p>
<p>My next course of action if yelling didn’t work was to try biting and scratching back as I tried to push the maine coon off. That, of course, backfired. Horribly. Instead, it just made the maine coon more aggressive as it realized this wasn’t playful roughhousing anymore. The scratching and biting hurt a lot more after that and one particular bite to the neck definitely drew blood if the pain from it was anything to go by. All I could do was cry out for help and hope someone came to help before all my fur was ripped out.</p>
<p>It must have been my lucky day because I soon heard footsteps rapidly approaching followed by a, “What the hell- hey, knock it off!,” before I felt the maine coon’s weight being lifted off of me. It was at this point that I wanted to get up and run back home. I was free to do so now with no maine coon pinning me down. But I couldn’t. Even just moving caused immense pain as I felt dozens of scratches burn in my attempts and don’t even get me started on the bite wound on my neck. All I could do was lie pathetically on my side and listen to what was going on around me, my eyes closed as I was on the verge of passing out.</p>
<p>“Hey, Meiko, I think I found your cat!,” I heard my rescuer call out and it seemed another set of footsteps was already hurrying their way over.</p>
<p>“Y-Yes, that’s her!,” the new voice said and I recognized it as the girl I passed by earlier. It seemed the pet she was looking for was her monster of a maine coon. “Thank you for finding her and sorry to trouble you.”</p>
<p>“It’s whatever, I was heading home from cram school anyways.”</p>
<p>“Still, I have to thank you, Yamato. I look away for two seconds and Mei is already wandering out the door. It might’ve taken me all night to find her on my own.”</p>
<p>Yamato? That sounded familiar to me, but at the moment I couldn’t think of where I heard that name before. It took all my energy just to focus on what they were saying.</p>
<p>“Just… don’t let it happen again,” Yamato said and I could feel someone picking me up. Probably him. “She messed up this cat pretty bad.”</p>
<p>“O-Oh! I didn’t- Sorry, I’ll be more careful, then. Goodbye,” Meiko said. With the sound of footsteps that followed, she probably left.</p>
<p>Yamato huffed but didn’t say anything as he readjusted his hold on me to be more comfortable. The movement hurt for a brief moment, unfortunately. However, the new position was much more comfortable than before once the pain settled. With my paws and head resting on Yamato’s shoulder, I forced my eyes open to see that we were going somewhere. In the distance, a girl- Meiko- was walking away in the opposite direction down the street.</p>
<p>I should’ve run away at this point. I could’ve run away at this point. Nothing was stopping me if I just put some effort into it and the hold Yamato had on me certainly wasn’t strong enough to keep me from running. I didn’t run, though, both because of my pain and because of a small spark of curiosity. A part of me was interested in where this would lead, so I stayed right where I was and hoped that nothing bad would come out of this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At some point, I gained the strength and the sense to actually get a look at exactly who was carrying me and then it clicked. The reason the name “Yamato” sounded familiar was because I was dealing with THE Yamato Ishida, only one of the most notorious kids from my school. He was legendary for being a lone wolf, to the point that he was considered the secret eighth wonder of the school. Some of the weirder students had a big conspiracy theory that he was somehow a ghost, which made no sense if you thought about it for two seconds. How could hundreds of people, including both students and faculty members, all collectively see a ghost and treat him like any other student? Plus, he had all the registration necessary to attend, and I know this because someone went so far as to sneak into the faculty office to snoop around and confirm it. To say the rumours about Yamato Ishida were crazy was an understatement. That still didn’t stop all the girls from swooning over his “mysterious and enigmatic charm.” And the boys were jealous over the fact that they were losing to a loner pretty boy who rejected all the girls anyways.</p>
<p>But that’s besides the point. The point was that I found myself in his apartment. As a cat. Just the two of us and he had no idea that I was the kid who sat two desks behind and one to the right of him in class.</p>
<p>The apartment itself was pretty small and from the looks of it, nobody else was home. It also didn’t look like it had been cleaned in awhile from some of the things that were just lying around like empty cups and wrappers, a few jackets here and there, and a couple of dishes in the sink. But it wasn’t disgustingly dirty either, just the kind of dirty that said someone lived here. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if Yamato lived alone. He has the personality for it.</p>
<p>Eventually, Yamato gently set me down on the kitchen table, careful to try and not agitate my injuries though they still stung a bit. I looked around trying to find an escape route in case I needed it (despite the pain turning my head caused) but there was only one locked window and a closed door for my options, so that was out of the question. Maybe I could turn back into a human once he went to bed and then open the door myself so I could leave. It was a bit risky, but worth a shot. For now, I just watched Yamato go into another room where he sounded like he was trying to pull out something heavy before he came back with what looked like a dog bed. And a very nice, big, plush one at that. Why he had it when it didn’t seem like he had a dog, I have no idea. He walked over, setting it next to me on the table, and said, “Here, this’ll be more comfortable to lay on.”</p>
<p>I looked at the bed and then back to him.</p>
<p>“Go ahead.”</p>
<p>I stood, then, and trotted onto the bed before lying on it with my paws tucked under me. It was surprisingly comfortable, both the bed and my position. I could see why cats loafed around like this all the time. I wish I knew why this dog bed was more comfortable than my bed at home, though.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” I tried to say, but it agitated the bite wound in my neck, so it came out more strangled than I would’ve liked.</p>
<p>Yamato sighed at that. “Looks like Mei really did a number on you,” he said. I had a suspicion that other humans could only hear what I said as meows, but now I knew for sure. Anyone would’ve freaked out from hearing a cat speak like a human, yet Yamato acted like normal. There was no other explanation, really. “But it’s so weird… it almost seemed like you could understand me,” he added.</p>
<p>If only he knew. From what I did know about him before this, he was pretty sharp, he might even be able to figure out who I really am. Or maybe not, it was still a pretty wild idea to think your classmate could become a cat. No one would believe that unless they saw it for themselves first hand.</p>
<p>And then I felt his fingers probing around the fur on my neck and hissed in response. It hurt pretty badly as he poked at the wound.</p>
<p>“Sorry, but this might get infected,” Yamato said as he softly pet me. And god it was weird to think about how this was my life at the moment. Me getting pet by my classmate who doesn’t realize who the cat he took in is.</p>
<p>Still, he was trying to help me, so I let him keep going. Yamato ended up looking around at both the wound on my neck and as many of the more serious scratches as he could before he started digging around the drawers and cabinets in his kitchen. Somehow, it was a stranger sight than the rest of my night. He looked so serious and concerned about my wellbeing, it was almost impossible to believe. Whenever he looked out of the window in class, he had this sort of detached expression, like he wasn’t really there. And on the rare occasions that he could be found talking to someone, he never looked happy about it, instead looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. Or in some cases, frying the other person alive if they were especially annoying to him (like the girls who never stopped confessing to him).</p>
<p>When Yamato finished looking around for whatever it is he wanted, he ended up with a handful of cotton swabs, a bottle of antibiotics, a cup of water, and a roll of gauze that he set in front of me on the table. The first thing he did from there was use the cotton swabs to soak up water and then dab at my wounds. Each cotton swab turned a pinkish colour as they were used to clean up the dry blood as much as possible. When that was done and the dirtied cotton swabs were thrown away, Yamato moved on to soaking the remaining swabs with antibiotics.</p>
<p>“This is going to sting,” was my only warning before he started to apply the antibiotics to my cuts. I hissed instantly, the pain being a little more than just a sting. More like a miniature fire being applied directly to my skin. Yamato petted me and shsh’d at me like one would naturally do to calm a cat and it was embarrassing to admit that it worked on me. I tried my best to stay completely still as he kept working, only moving when he needed me to. It helped to pretend this was one of those times where my mom had to patch me up after a soccer game, but then I got distracted by how I just kept learning more and more about Yamato that I never would’ve expected from him.</p>
<p>Yamato was very kind and gentle with animals and obviously knew what he was doing when it came to taking care of them. Considering he had such an expensive dog bed but no dog from what I could tell, he probably had a dog he really cared for in the past or was very serious about getting one in the future. He also helped that girl- Meiko- to find her missing cat and wasn’t too frosty about it. At least compared to when any of our classmates ask him to do anything. The only real big similarity between this Yamato and the one I know from school is the fact that he’s still just as quiet in private as in public. Maybe if he had someone other than a cat to talk to, I would find even that to be a false preconception.</p>
<p>As it was, despite the differences, this was still undoubtedly the same Yamato. The one who stuck out in class because of his blonde hair and blue eyes making him look like a foreigner in a sea of Japanese people, but who gained a reputation from his outward personality alone. Who caught the attention of every girl in class yet rejected each one. Who was so secretive that no one really knew anything about him at all. And now I get to see first hand how the reputation he had wasn’t entirely true at all. Maybe parts of it were true, but seeing this new side of him was starting to make me wonder, just who exactly is Yamato Ishida?</p>
<p>The last touch to my “medical care” was a layer of gauze wrapped around my neck, probably because the bite wound was bad enough to continue bleeding and get horribly infected without it. It sure felt like it was that bad, anyways.</p>
<p>Everything said and done, Yamato started putting everything away before asking, “are you hungry?”</p>
<p>Was he seriously going to feed me, too? What would he even feed me? I doubted he just had spare cat food lying around and I sure as hell wasn’t going to eat any of that even if he did. It was possible he knew how to cook though, so I answered, “Sure! I could eat.”</p>
<p>“I’ll take that as a yes,” Yamato said.</p>
<p>I quickly found out that, yes, he can cook. He even had an apron on. A pink one at that. The fact alone that he owned a pink apron and could cook made me desperately want to change back to a human so I could take a picture. I couldn’t do that, obviously, but I could enjoy the moment and try to permanently burn it into my memory. It was beautiful, incredible, a once in a lifetime experience. Suddenly, any regrets I had about accepting the mask disappeared because this one moment made it completely worth it.</p>
<p>And when I was presented with a plate of expertly grilled salmon, I thought for a moment that I might’ve died and gone to heaven. Or maybe I was reincarnated as a cat and was lucky enough to end up getting spoiled here. Either way, this was probably the best meal I’ve had years and it was made by the last person I’d ever expect. Yamato Ishida was an excellent cook and only I knew that indisputable fact.</p>
<p>About halfway into devouring my unexpected dinner, I felt a hand reach to scratch behind my ear and it felt so good. Way too good that I almost didn’t catch how I started purring from it. The only thing saving me from my embarrassment over being unable to control myself was the fact that no one would ever find out about this. And that Yamato was actually smiling when I looked up at him. What?</p>
<p>If my brain stopped functioning, this was the reason why. He looked so… blissfully happy. Gone was the image of doom and gloom I had for him up until this moment. Instead it was replaced by the adorable image of him smiling like he was a child at heart. I had to wonder what kind of life he had if he was so happy over taking care of a cat like this. It made me feel a little bad about it when I remembered that I’d inevitably have to leave and go back to being a human.</p>
<p>And when I sneezed and he laughed, I knew I was a goner. I still planned on leaving when I could, but maybe, just maybe, I could visit him like this again.</p>
<p>“Yamato… I really want to know the real you,” I said out loud.</p>
<p>Yamato laid his head in his arms on the table, watching me with that soft smile I never knew he could have. “I wonder if I could- no, dad would tell me that I shouldn’t,” he said to himself and just like that, the smile disappeared. He still watched me quietly for a little while as I finished the meal he made me.</p>
<p>So he lived with his dad and not alone, like I originally thought. But that still left the question of where his mom was. I was about to question that, but then Yamato stood up with a sigh and moved to crack open the front door. “Well, if you want to go, feel free,” he said. And he almost sounded disappointed in coming to terms that I couldn’t stay. I assumed that his dad probably wouldn’t let him keep a cat, but that worked out for me in the long run.</p>
<p>However, I could probably stay for just a little longer.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>“...And so, that’s what happened,” I finished my very, very abridged version of the night I became a cat for the first time. Of course, I left out the mask seller and the whole cat thing because not even Sora would believe any of that. Basically, what I told her was that I fell out of a tree, Yamato found me, and then we hung out for a little bit after he patched me up. Really, only about half of that was true, but what else was I supposed to say?</p>
<p>“So… You’re telling me… that you not only hung out with Yamato at his apartment, but he also personally attended to your injuries AND cooked for you?,” Sora asked skeptically.</p>
<p>“Uh, yes?”</p>
<p>“Are you sure you didn’t just hit your head when you fell out of that tree and hallucinated the whole thing?”</p>
<p>“Argh, no I didn’t! I know it happened!,” I shouted. A few of the nearby students glanced over at me because of my outburst, but I ignored them. “Even if no one believes me, I know it happened. I’m as sure as the sky is blue and That’s why I want- no, I NEED- to become friends with Yamato.”</p>
<p>“I can’t really argue with that kind of determination,” Sora finally relented. “Just know that I’m here for you whenever you need it.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Sora. I know I can count on you.” And it was true. There was a reason we’ve been best friends since childhood. I would never trade Sora’s friendship away for anything in the world.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>My schedule after school was to go home, do homework if I have any, have dinner, and then finally sneak out to go visit Yamato. It was a routine that I easily fell into, but because I did this everyday, it was getting harder and harder to come up with an excuse to go out. Not because my parents were getting suspicious, they usually didn’t pay too much mind to it. They trusted me to be responsible and I was old enough to go do whatever I wanted most of the time. No, the real problem came in the form of my nosy little sister.</p>
<p>“Going out again? It’s been weeks, what are you even doing out there all the time? I know you only ever hang out outside of school with Sora,” Hikari teased just as I was about to open the front door. By her legs, the family cat, Miko, watched me with the same mischievous curiosity that she had. I say family cat, but really he was Hikari’s cat more than anything with how much he takes after her.</p>
<p>“Ha ha, very funny, but for your information,” I started, “I have more than one friend.”</p>
<p>“Oh, really? And who is that?”</p>
<p>“His name is Yamato, if you have to know.”</p>
<p>“Yamato, huh…,” Hikari trailed. “Hey, what’s with the mask, by the way? You’ve been taking that with you every time you go out lately. It’s kind of weird. I mean, I never expected you to be a furry.”</p>
<p>“Wha- I am not a furry!,” I sputtered. I had nothing against those kinds of people, but I definitely did not want to be associated with them. It was just going to be easy ammo for Hikari. “What I do with my free time is none of your business!”</p>
<p>“Y’know, vehemently denying it is a sign that it’s true. If that’s the case, then I’ll have to keep a closer watch on Miko so you don’t try anything funny,” Hikari snickered. Damn her for growing up to be such a pest. The “sweet little angel” she used to be as a kid ended up being quite the demon when she wanted to be.</p>
<p>“No, it’s not! I’m not a furry, it’s just a mask, your cat is a little monster anyways, and you’re annoying,” I said.</p>
<p>“Aw, but it’s funny to annoy you,” she said and before I knew it, she had ripped the noh mask from my hand, “and Miko is the cutest and sweetest little kitty there ever was.”</p>
<p>“H-Hey, give that back! I need that!” I tried to take the mask back, but she moved it just out of my range.</p>
<p>“For what? Tell me, I’ve gotta know! And apologize to Miko while you’re at it, too!”</p>
<p>“No you don’t need to know and no I won’t apologize!”</p>
<p>I needed that mask, not only so I could go see Yamato but because I also needed to keep my secret about the whole “turning into a cat” thing. It was incredibly unlikely anyone would think to put the mask on and somersault, but the chances were never zero. I would’ve kept the mask itself a secret, too, if it weren’t for the fact that Hikari and I shared a room. The apartment we lived in was pretty small, so it wasn’t like we had much of a choice in the matter. Still, I tried to hide the mask under my bed mattress for the first week, but it was just too hard to avoid getting caught with it in my hands. Unless I jumped off the balcony, but then my family would worry about why I suddenly disappeared.</p>
<p>Anyways, I started chasing Hikari around the apartment in an attempt to get my mask back. She was more graceful than me about avoiding the furniture, though, so I was having a hard time keeping up with her. It didn’t help that Miko decided he also wanted to be an annoyance by purposefully getting in my way. Tripping over furniture was one thing, but trying to avoid tripping over a cat that was playing a dangerous game was another. Little bastard, always picking favorites against me.</p>
<p> Eventually, we ended up chasing each other in a circle around the dinner table. “Damnit, Hikari, give it back!,” I said, glaring at her from the other side of the table. “Or else I’m gonna push the table on top of you!”</p>
<p>“Mooooom, Taichi’s threatening me!,” Hikari called out to our mom who had been watching TV on the couch rather peacefully this entire time.</p>
<p>“Hikari, give your brother his mask back,” Mom called back.</p>
<p>“Aw, what? That’s no fun,” Hikari said, but she didn’t sound all that disappointed about it. Just mischievous. “Oh well, here you go.”</p>
<p>“Thanks,” I said insincerely as I took the mask from her.</p>
<p>From the couch, our mom sighed, “I can’t believe it, seventeen and fourteen and you two fight like you’re children. I remember when you two got along-”</p>
<p>“Ok, well I’m heading out,” I said, cutting my mom off before she started reminiscing for the next thirty minutes.</p>
<p>“Ok, have fun!”</p>
<p>“Enjoy your date!,” Hikari added.</p>
<p>“It’s not a date, you little gremlin!,” I shouted before slamming the door behind me, my face burning up like a wildfire. Seriously, siblings could just be pure evil sometimes. Even more so when they had a henchman to back them up, like Miko. Hikari was a good sister though, I had to admit. Whenever she wasn’t purposefully pushing my buttons that is.</p>
<p>Moving on, I still had somewhere I needed to be, so I found a secluded spot safe from any prying eyes and put on my mask. One moment I was a human and in the next I became a cat, scurrying my way through town towards Yamato’s place. I was already late because of my sister and her cat, I couldn’t keep him waiting much longer.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Mysterious Cat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s already getting late…”</p>
<p>On the night of Tenno Matsuri, I had come across a very unusual cat. It was a brown tabby that had been assaulted by my neighbour’s maine coon, Mei, and was badly injured because of that. I couldn’t leave it there, lying on the sidewalk all bloody and cut up, so I took it home to patch it up. As it turned out, I ended up making quite the loyal friend out of that cat after that night. It never stayed, but it would always come back to my apartment around seven forty-five at night and hang around for a couple hours. On Sundays, when I had no school, it would even come to hang out for the entire day. Not only was it a loyal cat, but it was also very meticulous about when it came to visit for whatever reason.</p>
<p>And yet, the clock was approaching eight ten and my feline friend still had yet to come.</p>
<p>“Where are you?,” I asked myself as I sat cross-legged in front of the door. I had left it cracked open with a plate of food I cooked myself, expecting my usual company to stop by. The cat always showed on time before, but nearly thirty minutes late had me convinced that today was the exception. Maybe someone else had found and taken the cat in or maybe it was hurt again or maybe it didn’t want to come back or-</p>
<p>As I was about to continue that line of thought, I was caught off guard by the door suddenly opening fully and being met with the sight of legs. I looked up to see my dad looking all too tired and confused and said, “Uh, hi? You’re home early.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I decided to take the night off… er, what are you doing down there?,” Dad asked.</p>
<p>“I was waiting for a cat to come by,” I answered truthfully as I stood up, plate of food in hand.</p>
<p>Dad glanced at the plate of food I held. “Have you been feeding a stray?” I figured he’d find out about it eventually, there was really no point in hiding it. I was only worried that he’d tell me to stop because we couldn’t care for a stray. Still, I had to make my case because I didn’t want to so easily give up the friendship I had forged with that cat.</p>
<p>“Yeah. I found it hurt pretty badly and helped it out. Now it keeps coming back and I can’t just turn it away,” I explained. Just then, the cat in question came running at break-neck speeds between my dad’s legs into the apartment. “Speak of the devil.”</p>
<p>I moved to set the food on the dinner table and, even though the slices of turkey on the plate were cold by now, that didn’t stop the cat from hopping up to eat it ravenously. I gave it a scratch behind the ear before I turned to my dad, who was now taking his shoes off by the door.</p>
<p>“I guess that’s fine then,” he started. “It might even be nice to have a pet around again.”</p>
<p>“Wait, really?” I was expecting at least a small argument about why I couldn’t be feeding just any cat I found on the streets. Not such quick and chill acceptance.</p>
<p>“Yes, really. It’s not a bad idea, so long as you understand this is entirely your responsibility. Anything that happens is your problem. And I don’t want you feeding any other strays or else we’ll end up overrun with cats. Kapeesh?”</p>
<p>“Got it.”</p>
<p>“Then we have a deal.” That was surprisingly easy. “Anyways, got a name for it?”</p>
<p>Up until now, I hadn’t really thought about giving the cat a name. I probably should give it one if it’s going to come back so often, though. Especially now that I had permission to keep taking care of it. “Um… How about ‘Gabu’?,” I suggested awkwardly.</p>
<p>“You wanna name it after your old dog?,” Dad said as he plopped down on the couch and started flipping through the TV channels. “Is it even a boy?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know actually…” That was another thing, I didn’t check to see if it was a boy or girl either. I looked to the cat to see it had stopped eating to stare at me with a weird look. Almost like it understood the conversation and didn’t like where this was going. “Sorry buddy, but I have to check.”</p>
<p>The cat started meowing pretty loudly at me as I hooked my hands under its front legs to lift it up. If a cat could look embarrassed, this one certainly did and I didn’t get long to check its gender before its violent kicking forced me to put it back down. The poor thing sulked off the table and into my room out of sight after that. I guess that might’ve been expected, it always did act a bit too human for a cat, seemingly able to perfectly understand everything that was going on. “Well, it’s definitely a boy.”</p>
<p>“Gabu it is, then,” Dad said.</p>
<p>And so, the brown tabby I met that fateful day now had a name. He was Gabu, named after the beloved dog that was once my most loyal friend. I couldn’t think of anything more fitting for the cat that kept on coming back just to see me.</p>
<p>“So, if we’re gonna end up keeping Gabu, we should probably neuter him.”</p>
<p>The loudest wail I’ve ever heard before in my life came from my room, and I could only assume that it was a pretty firm veto to my dad’s suggestion.</p>
<p>I laughed. “Or maybe not.”</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>The next day, as I was walking to school I was fully prepared to be met with the biggest annoyance in my day to day life. Or, perhaps annoyance was too harsh of a word, but rather the biggest source of unwanted attention in my life. To put it simply, I basically had no social life at school and that was for a good reason. I didn’t want to make any friends just as much as I didn’t know how to make any. When I was a kid and my parents split up- my dad taking me and my mom taking my little brother- I was instantly ostracized and cast out by my peers. To them, I was that weird loser who was abandoned by his mom and they came up with all sorts of ways to say the same thing: that I was unwanted and that I deserved to be unwanted. A gap grew between me and everyone else because of that, one that was likely impossible to bridge.</p>
<p>From then on, I pushed everyone away and told myself I didn’t need anyone. I was just fine on my own and my classmates could say whatever they wanted, it didn’t matter. Even as I got older and got accepted into a different highschool than my old classmates, I still refused to make any type of connections with others. I didn’t want to take the chance that they would learn about me and how my family was messed up and turn on me, just like before. It was terrifying to think that someone could be your closest friend one day and then become your worst nightmare the very next day, all because of something you couldn’t control.</p>
<p>Throughout it all, the only true friend I had was a gray malamute that I named Gabu. After the divorce, my dad got him for me to take care of, probably because he thought I could use some company when he constantly came home late from work (or sometimes, didn’t come back at all). I loved that dog more than anything. He was always so well-behaved and smart and knew just when to comfort me and how. He was there for me when no one else was and he was loyal to a fault. The hardest I ever cried was the day Gabu died and I realized I would be alone again.</p>
<p>Several months later, and just as I’m about to think that I’m fated to be alone, in comes Taichi Yagami. Around the time of Tenno Matsuri, when I met the brown tabby that reminded me so much of Gabu, Taichi decided he didn’t want to leave me alone, either. Ever. He always walked with me to school and never seemed to stop talking or coming up with things to say despite my repeated attempts to get him to go away. I knew he was considered one of the weirder kids at school because of how outgoing he was and how he wasn’t afraid of anything, making him pretty eccentric in the eyes of our much more reserved classmates. But even so, his sudden interest in me came out of nowhere and he was as persistent as could be about it.</p>
<p>It’s not that he was really all that annoying, Taichi was actually pretty nice to me and could be fun to be around from time to time, loathe as I am to admit it, but I just wasn’t interested. I wanted him to give up and go away before he could give me the false hope that we could be friends. As I’ve learned over the years, nothing like that could ever work out for me as much as I tried and as much as I wished for it. Still, there wasn’t anything I could actually do to stop him, so he just kept coming back again and again like a boomerang.</p>
<p>But today, when he came to walk with me to school, he had a gloomy aura and expression to contrast his usually sunny personality. He didn’t even say good morning like always, just stared at the ground like he wanted to dig a whole to crawl into and die.</p>
<p>“Uh, good morning?,” I said. It was the first time I greeted him properly since he started walking with me to school, I realized.</p>
<p>“Yeah, mornin’,” he said back to me and it was uncharacteristically half hearted. He wouldn’t even look at me as he said it.</p>
<p>A minute passed. And then another and he still wasn’t saying anything. It was starting to bother me with how quiet he was being. He was usually always so bright and energetic. “Are you… doing ok?,” I ended up asking.</p>
<p>“Huh-? Oh, y-yeah, I’m fine! Doin’ just peachy, in fact!,” Taichi answered. It was obvious he was lying with how forced that answer sounded, especially since he still wouldn’t look at me. Seriously, why was he being so weird? He was always a little weird, but this was extra weird.</p>
<p>“Really? because it doesn’t sound like-”</p>
<p>“Ha, what? Are you actually worried about me? That’s new, maybe you’re starting to finally accept that we’re friends!”</p>
<p>I scoffed at him. “Ugh, no I’m not! I can’t believe I was worried about you!”</p>
<p>“Really, I’m fine,” He assured me. I didn’t believe him at all, though. He still refused to look at me after all. There had to be something wrong if he was that stubborn about it. “I was just… thinking about something.”</p>
<p>“And that something is...?”</p>
<p>Silence, apparently. He even moved a step away from me as his face lit up like a stop light. I seriously had to wonder what had the most fearless kid in school so embarrassed. It always seemed like nothing could get under his skin from the way he acted so brazen and blunt all the time.</p>
<p>“What? Cat got your-”</p>
<p>“I SAID IT'S NOTHING BYE,” Taichi shouted before he ran away. If I blinked, I might’ve missed the whole thing, he ran away so fast.</p>
<p>“What’s up with him?”</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>By lunch time, it seemed like Taichi had returned to his usual self, for better or worse.</p>
<p>I was just packing my things, getting ready to head out and find somewhere secluded to eat lunch when I heard someone shout, “No, wait-! Don’t-!,” from somewhere outside. Pretty much everyone gathered around the windows to see what was going on, including me. When I managed to get a decent view of what was happening though, my jaw practically dropped.</p>
<p>There, standing on the railing of the walkway between the main building and the practice building, was Taichi. And he looked pretty pissed judging by the look on his face as he glared down at two boys standing in the courtyard. This couldn’t possibly be good.</p>
<p>“You better stop talking shit about Yamato!,” he yelled. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”</p>
<p>Oh god, this was a terrible situation. Even more than I originally thought. I knew that a lot of the guys in our grade liked to talk about me behind my back because they were petty like that, but I didn’t really care. None of that would matter once I graduated high school and moved on into the real word. Teenage jealousy was pointless to focus on, so I did my best to ignore it. But here Taichi was, deciding that he wasn’t going to let any of that slide.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?,” one of the boys challenged.</p>
<p>The answer came in the form of Taichi jumping off of the ledge into a tree, probably hitting every single branch on the way down before landing on all fours like some sort of deranged animal. He was absolutely insane. He had to be to pull off a stunt like that. Everyone who watched it happen couldn’t help but scream, shout, or gasp from the shock. Back up on the walkway, a girl I recognized as Sora Takenouchi looked like she was about to have a heart attack as she leaned over the edge in an attempt to see if her friend was ok. As for the two boys that were the target of Taichi’s anger, they looked a little shaken, to say the least. Maybe even terrified of Taichi and how far he was willing to go.</p>
<p>And me? I couldn’t believe Taichi would do something so dangerous just because someone talked bad about me. The level of dedication he showed towards me was on another level, that was certain if nothing else. But since this did revolve around me, whether I liked it or not, then it was up to me to put an end to it, too. I didn’t sit and watch what happened next like the rest of the crowd, instead I rushed down to the ground level towards the underpass of the walkway that led to the courtyard. I made it just in time to hear Taichi start ranting, each step he took as he approached the other boys a painful looking limp.</p>
<p>“Yamato works hard everyday at everything he does, how dare you try and belittle his accomplishments!,” Taichi started. I couldn’t help but focus on how he was covered in cuts and quickly forming bruises, a bit of blood starting to stain his ruined school uniform. “You have no right to act like you know anything about him when you don’t! You don’t even have the balls to tell him what you think of him to his face, so what makes you think you can just sit there and talk shit?! What are you doing that makes you think you’re so much better than him other than stroking your already inflated egos?! He- He-!”</p>
<p>“Taichi! Are you ok?,” I asked, just loud enough to cut off his little speech. Luckily, it got him to turn and face me, his expression softening into one of mild surprise.</p>
<p>“Yamato? Y-Yeah, I’m ok! Thanks,” Taichi answered. Behind him, the two boys that were getting chewed out just a few seconds ago quickly and quietly slipped away, but I only cared about Taichi at the moment.</p>
<p>I walked up to Taichi and grabbed his wrist, earning a soft hiss from him. I must have accidentally agitated one of his scrapes. “Ah- sorry, I didn’t mean-,” I started.</p>
<p>“No, it’s fine. I mean, I was the one who was stupid enough to jump from the walkway into a tree.”</p>
<p>“At least you realize you’re stupid.”</p>
<p>“H-Hey…!,” Taichi started to protest, but he stopped and smiled when he heard my quiet laugh. “So you do know how to joke around!”</p>
<p>“I guess you’ve started to rub off on me,” I said sarcastically, but Taichi’s grin suggested he didn’t get the sarcasm. Or chose to ignore it. “Anyways, you need to go to the nurse’s office.”</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s- it’s not that bad, really! It’s just a few scratches,” he protested.</p>
<p>“Are you kidding me?,” I asked as I started to drag him back into the school. “In case you didn’t notice, you’re bleeding.”</p>
<p>“I… guess I am. Huh.” It was just like Taichi to not realize something like that because he was just too caught up in the moment.</p>
<p>I shook my head in disbelief, but then I noticed an abandoned bento box lying in the grass by the tree Taichi jumped into, its contents scattered all over the place. It was probably Taichi’s and ended up like this because he forgot to put it down before he jumped. That sounded like something he’d do, especially when coupled with what just happened. When I stopped to lean down and clean it up, Taichi said, “You don’t need to do that. I can clean it up later…”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about it,” I assured him. “You can have half of my lunch.”</p>
<p>“Wait, really?!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After a quick trip to the nurse where Taichi was patched up, the two of us made our way to the roof to spend the rest of our lunch period. Sora also followed along so she could fret over Taichi and call him an idiot for pulling off such a dangerous stunt. Honestly, I completely agreed with her and made that very clear, much to the annoyance of Taichi.</p>
<p>“Ok, ok, I think I get it already! Can you both give it a rest already?,” Taichi whined. “What I did was dangerous and stupid and I’ll never do it again, so can we just eat and move on now?”</p>
<p>“Only if you promise that you will never, and I mean NEVER, do anything like that again,” Sora demanded. “I almost had a heart attack watching you jump off the ledge like it was nothing!”</p>
<p>“I will never ever do it again, I swear. Not in a million years, I have completely learned my lesson I promise.”</p>
<p>“Mm, fine. I’ll accept that. But that doesn’t mean I completely believe you!”</p>
<p>“I’ll take it! So anyways, what’s on the menu for lunch?,” Taichi asked, obviously wanting to change the subject desperately.</p>
<p>“That was a quick change in attitude,” I said and opened the lid of my homemade bento. I was about to say more, but Taichi spoke up before I could do so.</p>
<p>“Woah, boiled sweet potatoes? Wasn’t expecting that,” he said as he used his chopsticks to pick one up. The second he put it in his mouth, his expression morphed into pure bliss, he looked like he was in heaven. Was my cooking really that good? I know I had more experience than most people my age because of how I grew up, but…</p>
<p>“This. is. Amazing! Matt, you’re an incredible cook!,” Taichi said. His praise was a bit embarrassing as I felt my face heat up.</p>
<p>“U-Um, thanks…”</p>
<p>“Ooh, you’re blushing! Embarrassed?,” Taichi teased. “You didn’t even get mad that I called you ‘Matt’.”</p>
<p>“You’re a pest,” I said and lightly punched his shoulder. He just laughed about it.</p>
<p>“Can I try it, Yamato?,” Sora asked- god bless her for redirecting the conversation- to which I gave her the go ahead. When she tried my boiled sweet potatoes, she had pretty much the same reaction as Taichi. It was obvious from the look on her face that she liked it just as much as he did. “Wow, you aren’t kidding Taichi, this is really good!”</p>
<p>“I guess I’ll have to make more for all of us next time, then,” I said sarcastically.</p>
<p>“Really?! Would you really do that for us?,” Taichi asked. He was so excited and earnest about it that it reminded me of an energetic little puppy. </p>
<p>And if I said no, then it’d be like kicking that puppy in the face, so I answered, “I… guess I could. It wouldn’t really hurt to make a little extra every day.”</p>
<p>“Hell yeah!,” Taichi exclaimed with a fist pump. “Home cooked meals beat convenience store bentos any day!”</p>
<p>Sora was more polite and formal about it, giving me a light bow where she was sitting and said, “Thank you and sorry for the trouble. You are a pretty great cook, though. You’ll have to share your recipes with me sometime.”</p>
<p>“Uh, sure…,” I said.</p>
<p>That was how I got roped into not only walking to school with Taichi, but also hanging out with both him and Sora at lunch everyday.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>“No, Gabu, this isn’t for you,” I said as I tried to gently shoo Gabu away for what seemed like the fiftieth time tonight. </p>
<p>At the moment, I was prepping three bentos for tomorrow now that I had promised I would make lunch for Taichi and Sora. Unfortunately, this meant I had to spend three times as long prepping my school lunches every night not to mention making something for Gabu to eat on top of that. Of course, I fed Gabu first because that takes priority over something I’ll just have to put in the fridge over night anyways, but that didn’t stop the troublesome tabby from trying to sneak an extra bite anyways.</p>
<p>Gabu meowed at me and pouted from where he sat on the kitchen counter. Apparently, he thought that giving me such a pitiful look would get me to change my mind. He even pawed at my arm for extra effect.</p>
<p>“Sorry, but I’m pretty sure I can’t feed a cat pineapple slices,” I said, putting down the knife and giving him a scratch instead. “Besides, even if I could give them to you, I need them for tomorrow. I promised my friends I’d make them lunch.”</p>
<p>God, did that feel weird to say. I didn’t really want to call them friends, but I didn’t really have anything else to call them. Saying they were acquaintances was a bit too awkward and impersonal, especially with Taichi since he always made it a point to spend time with me. He even acts like we’ve been close friends for years despite how cold I’ve been to him. As for Sora, I never really spoke to her before today, but she gave me the impression that she could be kind and caring to just about everyone. I just couldn’t bring myself to actually call them anything less than friends as much as I tried to tell myself they weren’t.</p>
<p>But for some reason, saying out loud that they were my friends felt relieving, though I wasn’t sure why. It also made Gabu really happy for some equally unknown reason. I could tell because he purred and rubbed up against my arm after I said it. He was a very cute and affectionate cat despite his bizarre behavior, I had to admit.</p>
<p>“Ok, ok, I get it,” I said as I lifted Gabu and set him down on the ground. “Just give me a minute to finish up and then I’ll play with you.”</p>
<p>Gabu meowed back at me before he trotted off to my room where I couldn’t see him. While I was thinking of it, I realized I should probably get him some cat toys soon as well. I said I’d play with him, but I didn’t actually own any sort of cat supplies, let alone toys to keep him entertained with. Though, to be fair, he seemed pretty happy just to be here regardless.</p>
<p>Once I was done preparing the bentos and had them put away in the fridge, I left the kitchen to find Gabu staring very intently at a picture on my desk. When he turned to see me walk over and take a seat at the desk to pet him, he started gently pawing at the picture frame. That was another weird thing about Gabu, he had a habit of snooping around the house (particularly my room) and pawing at something that interested him until I explained what it was. For some reason, he usually picked out a lot of the more personal belongings that I had.</p>
<p>Really, it was only a matter of time until he showed interest in the picture of my brother and I at summer camp together. “Curious?,” I asked, to which I received a meow. “Yeah, figures you would be, weirdo.” That comment earned me a swipe from Gabu’s paws, but it didn’t hurt at all.</p>
<p>“Alright, I get it,” I continued. “That’s a picture of me and my brother back when we were kids. His name is Takeru. Even back then, we weren’t living together anymore, so it was the first time we got to see each other in awhile.”</p>
<p>The picture itself only sort of reflected that. My little brother- seven at the time- definitely looked unapologetically cheerful, just like any little kid would be at summer camp. Even more so because I vividly remembered how excited he was to see me. I, on the other hand, looked like a very awkward ten year old who didn’t really know how to act. Now that I was older, I wish I had looked a little happier and more relaxed back then, even if it was just for the picture. But I couldn’t blame my past self for it, not when the entire situation was far more complicated than a single picture could convey.</p>
<p>It was the first day of camp when that picture was taken. Takeru and I had just been dropped off by our parents, but the atmosphere was already tense and awkward the moment our mom and dad spotted each other. The divorce happened not long before that day, only having been made official several months prior, so our parents were unsure of what to do or say when presented with each other and the children they forced to split up. The only saving grace was that Takeru was still just a little too young to fully grasp the subtleties of the issue at the time, causing him to be a cheerful ray of hope who was just happy that we were all together again. He helped to ease the mood a little, if nothing else.</p>
<p>But I couldn’t be as hopeful and optimistic as him. I understood better what was going on. Even the things I didn’t get I could guess at when I saw how my parents couldn’t look each other in the eye, the uncomfortable shifts they’d make, or the stilted conversations. It was hard to watch and even harder to be directly involved with. To top it off, I was dealing with my own complicated feelings towards my mom. I rarely ever got to see her after the divorce and even on the days when I did get to spend time with her, it was hard not to think about the things my classmates have said to me about her. Things like she didn’t want me and that was why she left my dad or that she regretted having me or that I must have been a burden to her. The worst part was that I couldn’t think of anything to prove them wrong, not when my mom really did leave my dad and not when she took Takeru with her and left me behind.</p>
<p>That’s why I should’ve been happier when my mom suggested we take a picture to remember that day. Because kids are cruel, my own festering thoughts are crueler, but life is the cruelest and I’d only get so many chances to hold onto memories of a happier time and place. Even now, I’ve only managed to distance myself from my old life. I haven’t spoken to my own brother in years, let alone my mom who I never made amends with.</p>
<p>Why is it only now that I’m thinking about these things so seriously, when before I tried my hardest to forget about it?</p>
<p>It seemed I must have been really out of it because Gabu was trying his best to get my attention by meowing sadly and kneading my shoulder. I didn’t even notice that I started tearing up at some point. I turned my attention to Gabu, forcing myself to focus on only him, and noticed just how much worry was in his sad, amber eyes.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I’m ok. I was thinking too much, that’s all,” I apologized as I sniffled and rubbed my eyes. They were already starting to burn. I tried to pet Gabu too, but he jumped off the desk before I could do so. Curious, I turned in my chair to watch him leave only to come back not even a minute later with my phone barely able to be held in his mouth. I forgot that I left it on the dinner table, but I guess Gabu didn’t. I took it from him when he walked up to me and flipped it open. “Um, what do you want me to do with this?”</p>
<p>Gabu responded by hopping back onto the desk and pawing at the picture again. He even meowed at me as though I would understand what he was saying. But considering what was going on, there was only really one thing he was trying to suggest. “You… want me to call my brother?”</p>
<p>Another meow.</p>
<p>“But… I can’t do that! I don’t have his number,” I argued. “What would I even say? It’s been years, what if he doesn’t even want to talk to me?”</p>
<p>Gabu just gave me a look that somehow managed to convey a sassy kind of disappointment, like he thought I was being stupid and overthinking things. Again.</p>
<p>“Well, it is still true that I don’t have his number, so maybe some other time.”</p>
<p>Luckily, Gabu stopped being persistent for the time being and let me put him on my lap so I could pet him. Now that all his wounds were healed up and his fur was growing back, he was a very soft cat.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>Even though my dad pretty much told me that it was ok to keep Gabu as a pet, I found that I couldn’t decide whether or not I actually wanted to go through with that idea. I only assumed that Gabu was a stray- he didn’t have a collar, after all- but it was possible his owner had him chipped instead and simply didn’t care where he wandered. There were plenty of lackadaisical pet owners like that. But even beyond that, Gabu acted so human that it felt like he wouldn’t want to end up as a household pet. He certainly didn’t like the idea of getting neutered if his attitude from the night my dad came home early was anything to go by. If he really knew what “neutering” was, that is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, though.</p>
<p>I really did take in a strange cat, didn’t I? Well, I haven’t actually taken him in, but the situation is about as close to that as it could be. Still though, I should get him at least a toy or two and maybe some cat treats. Catnip might be a fun idea, too…</p>
<p>“Hello? Earth to Matt, you’re spacing out over there,” Taichi said as he waved a pair of chopsticks in my face.</p>
<p>I forgot for a minute that I was eating lunch with Taichi and Sora on the school’s roof. Oops. “Huh? Uh, what were you saying?,” I asked.</p>
<p>“I was praising your amazing cooking and you didn’t hear any of it!,” Taichi exclaimed.</p>
<p>“That’s it?”</p>
<p>“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? You act like you don’t even realize how talented you are!”</p>
<p>“So, what were you thinking about, Yamato?,” Sora interrupted, effectively changing the subject. Taichi pouted, but that didn’t last for long once he went back to eating the bento I made.</p>
<p>“I was just thinking about this stray cat that comes to my apartment everyday,” I answered. “I’ve been wondering if maybe I should finally take him in as a pet.”</p>
<p>Just then, Taichi started to choke on his food pretty violently.</p>
<p>“Taichi! Are you ok?!,” Sora asked immediately, worry written all over her face.</p>
<p>However, Taichi got a hold of himself surprisingly quickly and recovered by brushing her off. “Yeha, yeah, I’m good. Sorry,” he said. “Just… ate a bit too fast, I guess.”</p>
<p>“Well, if you’re sure…”</p>
<p>“I’m sure! You worry too much. Anyways, you were saying, Yamato?”</p>
<p>It was almost more worrying how easily he moved on from the whole thing, but he seemed ok at least. I guess this was another one of those “just Taichi” things. That didn’t stop Sora from watching him like a hawk to make sure it didn’t happen again, though.</p>
<p>“There’s not a lot to say, really,” I continued, “I don’t know if the cat already has an owner or not. It’s not like he has a collar to make it obvious. He just sort of shows up to my apartment and I feed him. He acts really affectionate and I like to think I’ve been taking good care of him, but still…”</p>
<p>“Have you tried taking him to the vet to see if he has a chip?,” Sora suggested.</p>
<p>“No, I haven’t. My dad said we should neuter him if we were going to keep him. I’ve never heard a cat whine so loudly about something in my entire life, so I’d feel a little bad taking him to the vet.”</p>
<p>“It sounds like you’ve caught the attention of quite the cat,” Sora chuckled.</p>
<p>“You have no idea.” It was at this point that I noticed how unusually quiet Taichi was being. He looked like he was trying to pretend he wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, but he was very obviously invested. And also a little embarrassed? He always picked the weirdest times to be embarrassed over nothing at all.</p>
<p>“So how old is this cat?,” Sora asked.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” I answered. “Probably at least a couple years old, if I had to guess. He looks fully grown at least.”</p>
<p>“From the sound of it, I doubt that he has an owner,” Sora pointed out. “If nothing else, you could probably test the waters by getting a collar. If no one is his owner, then there shouldn’t be a problem.”</p>
<p>“But if someone is his owner, then I’ll have to deal with them coming to my apartment and asking why I put a collar on their cat,” I argued. “And don’t say that I could just keep him from going outside. That’ll just lead to wanted cat posters.”</p>
<p>“I agree with Sora,” Taichi spoke up for the first time the whole conversation. But for some reason, he sounded like he was trying to keep his voice steady while he talked. Was he nervous? Why? “I think you’re just reading too much into things. Not everything has to be a worst case scenario situation, y’know.”</p>
<p>I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just didn’t say anything at all and let the conversation fall into a lull. Taichi had a point that I overthink things, but it was just a habit I didn’t know how to break after all these years. Besides, it was always better to be prepared for the worst, just in case. Things were fine as they are right now, no point in bringing trouble my way over a cat. Even though I do really like having Gabu around.</p>
<p>“It’s decided then!,” Taichi declared out of nowhere, startling both me and Sora.</p>
<p>“What is?,” I asked</p>
<p>“We’re going shopping after school for cat supplies!”</p>
<p>Sora reached over to put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Good luck, Yamato. You’re gonna need it.”</p>
<p>Why did that feel like a threat when she said it like a joke?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Moving Forward</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey, Hikari? You wouldn’t happen to know anyone named ‘Takeru’ in your grade would you?”</p><p>It’s been about an hour and a half since I came home from Yamato’s place and I still couldn’t get the image of him tearing up at the thought of his brother out of my head. He looked so sad and so vulnerable in that one, quiet moment. He had hardly said anything to me about it, but I knew that he must have been thinking about a lot more than what he let on. From what I could gather in all of my visits, Yamato’s parents were divorced, he hadn’t seen his mom or his brother in a really long time, and he’s still dealing with the emotional baggage from it all completely on his own. I had to help him somehow, I was the only one who could because I was the only one who knew about it.</p><p>Just like me, Yamato struggles to deal with the past and just like me, he has no one to be there for him. It’s even incredibly likely that he’s been treated like an outcast because of the whole thing despite the fact that he couldn’t control it at all. Just like how I’ve been treated since middle school. But I refuse to let anyone go through the same things I’ve gone through. If no one else will support him, then I’ll do it myself. I vow to it that I will and I will do whatever it takes, starting with reuniting him with his brother.</p><p>“Huh? Where’s that coming from?,” Hikari asked in return. She was working on her homework at our shared desk, but now that I had her attention, she fully turned to look up at me.</p><p>I sighed at her question. “It’s a long story but trust me, it’s really important that you tell me: is there a ‘Takeru’ in your grade?” If my guess based on the picture I saw on Yamato’s desk is correct, then Takeru should be around the same age as Hikari. It was a shot in the dark if he went to the same school as her, too, but it was a worthwhile shot nonetheless.</p><p>“How important?”</p><p>I leaned over the edge of the top bunk of our bunk bed and stared Hikari straight in the eye as I answered, “Incredibly.” A moment of silence was shared between us then, Hikari looking at me as though she could see right through me.</p><p>“You’re really serious about it, then,” she finally said. “You’re in luck, my best friend is named Takeru. Takeru Takaishi. As far as I know, he’s the only one with that name in the whole school.”</p><p>“Does he have blond hair and blue eyes?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah, actually he does. How did you know that?”</p><p>“Lucky guess.” And to be truthful, it was a lucky guess. But now that I know that, the chances of this Takeru being the same as Yamato’s brother shot up immensely. After all, it was pretty uncommon to find anyone who had those kinds of traits in Japan if you lived anywhere other than Tokyo. “Do you know what his home life is like?”</p><p>“Taichi, that’s a super creepy question.”</p><p>“Just answer it! I need to make sure this is the same Takeru as the one I’m looking for.”</p><p>“Fine, but only because I know you’ll never leave me alone about it. I can just tell from the look on your face that you’ll pester me forever if I don’t-”</p><p>“That’s an exaggeration.”</p><p>“Anyways, I don’t actually know about his home life, but I think he just lives with his mom. He doesn’t really talk about it much.”</p><p>That practically confirmed that this was the Takeru I was looking for. There were too many coincidences for that not to be the case. The name, the appearance, and the situation all matched up near perfectly. If Yamato lived with his dad after his parents divorced, then it stood to reason that Takeru ended up with their mom. Even with different last names, it could easily be explained that their mom remarried or took back her maiden name, which would mean Takeru ended up with a different last name. The more I thought about it, the more and more likely it seemed.</p><p>“Do you think you can get me his phone number?,” I asked</p><p>Hikari sighed, clearly tired and wanting a reason for all my questions. “Are you gonna tell me what this is about?”</p><p>“Can I tell you about it later? I promise I’ll tell you when I can, but right now that is a bad time.” If I told her the whole story, including my escapades as a cat, she’d think me crazy and that I made up the whole thing. If I told her an abridged version about why I want to reunite Yamato and Takeru, it was possible she’d spoil the whole thing by telling Takeru about it before I could force Yamato to take the first step. I had a plan and though I could usually trust Hikari with just about everything, I didn’t want to take any chances this time.</p><p>“I’ll be holding you to that promise then,” Hikari said as she pulled out a notecard and started writing on it. When she was done, she handed the notecard to me. On the top, it read “Takeru Takaishi” with a phone number beneath it.</p><p>“Great, thanks sis!”</p><p>~~~</p><p>When I went to school the next day, I expected it to be pretty much the same as always with the exception of Yamato joining me and Sora for lunch. I expected a nice homemade lunch made by Yamato and remembering how he finally admitted we were his friends as he cooked (Though he still wouldn’t tell us that upfront). Instead, what I got was an embarrassing conversation about making Gabu a house pet. In other words, I’d end up as Yamato’s pet cat instead of just a random cat that visited him everyday. To make matters worse, I even suggested it was a good idea AND offered to go shopping for cat supplies with Yamato.</p><p>I must be the master of shooting myself in the foot. The only thing that that would accomplish is making it harder for me to balance my human life and my cat life, especially if Yamato stopped letting Gabu out of the apartment. I’d have to wait until he fell asleep to let myself out, but I’ve learned pretty quickly that Yamato is quite the night owl. It seems like he can never go to bed earlier than midnight, or at least that’s the earliest I’ve seen him go to bed from the few times I stayed later than I reasonably should. I don’t get how he can manage such a sleep schedule when we have to get up so early for school almost everyday.</p><p>Regardless, I was still asking myself why I said what I did even as Yamato and I were browsing around the cat section at the pet store. The conclusion I settled on was that I was an idiot who couldn’t resist doing something if it made Yamato happy. Even if it’s detrimental to myself. At least he does actually seem to enjoy the little shopping trip from the way he’s so absorbed in picking out a collar.</p><p>“Find one you like, yet?,” I asked.</p><p>“Huh? Oh, no, not really,” Yamato answered, but he was still completely focused on the selection of collars. “There’s so many of them, I can’t figure out which one I like best.”</p><p>“What does your cat look like?” Obviously, I knew the answer to that, but it’s not like he knew that.</p><p>“He’s a brown tabby with amber coloured eyes. Basically, we should avoid brown collars,” Yamato said. “They’d blend in too much with his fur. Orange might be ok, but that could also blend in too much.”</p><p>That was unfortunate. Orange is my favorite colour. “What’s your favorite colour?”</p><p>“Blue.”</p><p>“Why not just get a blue one, then?”</p><p>“But then I have to decide between all the blue collars they have. Do I want a plain one or one with a pattern? Do I want a lighter blue or a darker blue? Should I get a leather one or a fabric one? I mean, they even sell bandanas and ribbons as collars here. It’s a bit ridiculous how many options there are.”</p><p>“Dude. It’s just a collar, it’s not that complicated.”</p><p>Yamato sighed, clearly exasperated. “You would say that.”</p><p>“And what’s that supposed to mean?,” I challenged.</p><p>“It means that you’re a knucklehead that doesn’t think about things,” Yamato teased.</p><p>“Wow, rude! I can’t believe you’d say such a thing, now my feelings are hurt.” I even clutched my heart in faux agony.</p><p>“So dramatic… but you were the one who recklessly jumped into a tree and injured yourself.”</p><p>“Touché.”</p><p>Turning my attention back to the rows of collars, I honed in on the section of exclusively blue collars. If blue was Yamato’s favorite colour, then I wanted to have a collar that reflected that. Eventually, my eyes landed on a plain, sky blue leather collar and I picked it up off the hook. The leather itself was the imitation kind, but it was soft and flexible and had an adjustable strap. If I kicked at it enough as Gabu, I could probably take it off myself if need be. “Here, how about this one?,” I said, offering my find to Yamato. “It’s simple, but it’s pretty nice. I think you should go with it.”</p><p>Yamato took the collar from my hands and examined it. “It is nice. Well, if you think so, then this is the winner.”</p><p>“Great! Now we just need to get a tag. I think I saw one that was shaped like a sun that looked pretty cool.”</p><p>“How about you go get the tag, then? I’m going to look around at the cat toys for a little bit,” Yamato suggested.</p><p>Knowing him, he also had an ulterior motive. “You’re going to look at the animals instead, aren’t you?”</p><p>“...Maybe.”</p><p>I couldn’t help but laugh, much to Yamato’s embarrassment as he lightly punched my shoulder. He really does love animals. “Ok, ok, go have fun. Just don’t take forever, you’ll have to be the one to get the tag engraved since I don’t know your address or your cat’s name.”</p><p>“Oh, right, almost forgot about that part. Then I’ll just go get the tag, get it engraved, and then we’ll be done with it and go home,” Yamato said, but he seemed disappointed to have to go home so soon. He really needs to stop trying to keep himself from having fun.</p><p>“How about we go together and then once it’s engraved we can go look at the animals before leaving?,” I suggested instead.</p><p>“Ok, that works, too.”</p><p>Yamato was very cute when he was blushing.</p><p>~~~</p><p>After the trip to the pet shop, Yamato and I parted ways. That wouldn’t be for long though, because I only went home to have dinner before I left with my mask and switched to my cat form. As Gabu, I started making my way through the city towards Yamato’s place, notecard with Takeru’s number held safely in my mouth since I couldn’t carry it any other way. </p><p>That is, until I heard a familiar voice call out, “Enjoying your cat life?”</p><p>I whipped around to find the mask seller who originally gave me my mask standing right behind me. Only, he looked a little different than when I first saw him. I don’t know how I missed it before, but now it was clearly obvious that the mask seller was an anthropomorphic calico cat rather than a true human.</p><p>“It seems you’ve been making good use of that mask,” he continued. “Why not make it official and become a real cat?”</p><p>There was always a bit of a push coming from the mask seller to become a cat, but this time it seemed much more forceful. Like that was his true goal right from the very start: to convince me to abandon my human life entirely. I put down the note card and asked, “What are you getting at? You gave me this mask for free, remember?”</p><p>“That is true, I said you could try it for free,” the mask seller started as he leaned down to drag a claw under my chin, “but that is all. If you want to keep that mask, then I’ll need payment. I can’t run a successful business without it, after all. All I ask is that you give me your human face in return.”</p><p>I scurried back away from the mask seller before he could grab me, using my claws to drag my notecard with me. It was just as I thought then, he really did want me to give up being a human. “What?! I’m not going to do that,” I protested. “You never mentioned that before! If you had, I never would’ve accepted the mask.”</p><p>“Yes, and that’s why I didn’t mention it. It’s bad for business and besides… accepting the mask has led you down a path you can’t continue without it, am I wrong? If you want to give up the cat and return to the miserable struggles of human life, though, then be my guest.”</p><p>He was right, actually, now that he said it. If I didn’t take the mask, I never would’ve been able to become a part of Yamato’s life. I never would’ve been able to learn more about his true nature or found the motivation to force my human self into his life as his friend. And if I gave back the mask now, then I wouldn’t be able to continue doing what I’ve been doing. I can only imagine how everything would be ruined just by me losing my ability to turn into a cat.</p><p>Still, that doesn’t mean I can give up being a human either. If I was only a cat, I wouldn’t be able to hang out with Yamato at school and I wouldn’t have been able to get Takeru’s phone number for him. I needed both sides of myself if I wanted to help Yamato. I’ve come to really care for him, to the point that I was willing to do just about anything for him.</p><p>“Sorry, mask seller, but I can’t give up either of my masks,” I declared. “I need them both in order to help Yamato.”</p><p>“I see… you’ve grown quite fond of that boy,” the mask seller chuckled. “It seems all you ever do with your mask is use it to go see him.”</p><p>“How do you know about that?,” I demanded. The longer I talked with him, the creepier I realized he was.</p><p>“I know a lot of things, especially when it comes to my valued customers. I even know things you don’t know about yourself.”</p><p>“Really? Like what?,” I asked skeptically.</p><p>“Like how your fondness for that boy is actually love.”</p><p>That one sentence alone hit me like a sack of bricks being chucked at top speeds. “What- I- I don’t-!,” I tried to argue, but I couldn’t find it in myself to deny it. Deep down, I knew he was right. I fell for the complicated mystery that is Yamato the first time I went to his apartment as Gabu. It was why I was so determined to push myself into his life and why I wanted more than anything to make sure he was happy. I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing not just because I could see a bit of myself in him, but because I was hopelessly in love with Yamato Ishida.</p><p>I really haven’t learned anything since middle school.</p><p>“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?,” the mask seller asked, his tone playful yet somehow menacing. “Did I hit the nail on the head?”</p><p>I didn’t say anything back to him, only glared. He chuckled in return.</p><p>“I’ll take that as a yes,” he continued. “Y’know, if you came out and told him that you were Gabu this whole time, I’m sure he’d love you back.”</p><p>There were way too many reasons why that just wasn’t possible. “I will never do that,” I started. “First of all, he would never believe me. Second of all, even if he did, what if it backfired and he hated Gabu instead? Telling him would be like saying straight to his face that I had been lying and sneaking behind his back for my own selfish reasons.” And it was selfish of me to be doing this without Yamato’s knowledge. “Besides, we’re both guys. There’s no chance he would be interested, he’d just think I’m disgusting.”</p><p>“If you’re so certain. When all else fails, you can stay as Gabu and be with him forever,” the mask seller suggested instead.</p><p>“What do you mean ‘when’?” He made it sound like I was certain to somehow change my mind on my stance.</p><p>“Oh, I don’t mean anything by it.” Then why did that sound like such a lie? “I just mean that the option is there. I am a patient cat with plenty of time. I’ll leave you be for now, but I’ll be back to check on you again and when that day comes I will ask you once more: are you ready to shed your human mask? Au revoir!”</p><p>Before I could say anything else to that manipulative scam artist of a mask seller, he practically floated away to the roof of a nearby house with a single somersault. In the process, he himself shifted into a full cat, though he was rather fat and massive for a supposedly “normal” calico. He trotted away and, just like that, he was gone from sight. Meanwhile, I was left to wonder far too many things; what I was going to do when the mask seller came back, why he wanted my human mask so badly (whatever that meant), and worst of all, my feelings for Yamato.</p><p>But the middle of the street wasn’t the best place to think about my crappy life, so I forced myself to forget it for now. I picked my notecard back up and rushed off to Yamato’s house. He was probably wondering where I was.</p><p>~~~</p><p>When I finally made it to Yamato’s apartment I was greeted by a relieved Yamato. It was just like him to be worried about where I was, but what was surprising was how excited he was to give me the collar we picked out earlier. The first thing he did when I showed up was pull out the collar to show it to me. He even ignored the notecard I had. When he put the collar on me, I found it to be unexpectedly comfortable. It was like wearing any regular necklace, though that could be because Yamato was sure not to make it too tight.</p><p>“There we go… looking sharp!,” Yamato commented. “Do you like it?”</p><p>Considering that I still had the notecard in my mouth I couldn’t say anything, so I just purred instead to get the message across. I picked out my own collar, of course I was gonna like it. Ignoring the fact that it was weird to think something like that, the collar was also a gift from Yamato, so that makes it a little more bearable to accept. Despite that making it even weirder. It was just another day in my life at this point.</p><p>“By the way, what’s in your mouth?,” Yamato asked as he finally took the notecard. He couldn’t hide the shock on his face when he saw what was written on it. “This is- How did you get this?”</p><p>“It’s a secret!,” I responded, knowing full well he could only hear meows.</p><p>“Maybe… Maybe I should call him. I mean, you did go through the effort to get this for me. Somehow.”</p><p>Seeing Yamato still hesitate over the matter, I nudged his hand with my head and said, “Just do it, you big baby.”</p><p>“Alright, alright fine! I’ll call him.” Saying that, Yamato pulled out his flip phone from his back pocket and started to dial Takeru’s number. The few seconds of quiet ringing were agonizing before I heard someone on the other line pick up. Thanks to having better hearing as a cat than a human, I was able to pick up what they said.</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p>That was all the call’s recipient said before I watched Yamato panic and hang up immediately. “I can’t do it,” Yamato said. He sounded so torn up and sad as he held his face in his hands, his phone pressing against his forehead. “It’s too hard. I just… don’t know what to say…”</p><p>“Please, you’re so close. You can do this.” He can’t understand me, but still, I have to do what I can to encourage him. There’s only so much I can do as a cat to push him forward, though. He has to be able to find the courage to talk to his brother, now or never.</p><p>Rearing back onto my hind legs, I reached up to paw at the phone in Yamato’s hand. He tried to shoo me away and told me to knock it off, but I was going to pester him until he finally grew a pair and tried again. When he still refused to do anything other than be gloomy, I ended up biting him.</p><p>“Ow, dammit Gabu! The hell was that for?!,” he yelled.</p><p>“You know damn well what it was for!,” I yelled back.</p><p>“I’m not calling him again, ok?! What if it goes wrong?,” Yamato argued. “What if I do something stupid and end up pushing him further away?”</p><p>“The only thing stupid that you’re doing is finding dumb reasons to not go through with it! Just call your brother already! It’s not like he can get any farther away considering you refuse to bring him back into your life in the first place!”</p><p>“You’re such a needy cat, always meowing all the time and trying to force me to do things I don’t want to do… what’s your problem?!”</p><p>I wanted to yell back at him, “but this is something you need to do. It’s for your own good,” but I was stopped by the sight of Yamato tearing up. He looked like he was about to completely come apart by this one little thing.</p><p>“This is my one chance to reconnect with Takeru, I don’t- I can’t mess it up,” He continued, bringing a hand to rub at his eyes. “Yet here I am, being stupid and yelling at a cat.” At least he realized he was being stupid. “God, I’m pathetic. I wonder what Taichi would do… he always seems so fearless. He wasn’t afraid of jumping off that walkway and he wasn’t afraid to go off on those two students, all because they were talking shit about me. I wish I could be more like him…”</p><p>But that isn’t true, I’m not fearless. If I was, I wouldn’t be going behind Yamato’s back like this. I would tell him how I feel and that I’ve been with him this whole time. I don’t do that because I’m scared- no, terrified- that he would reject me and abandon me though he has the right to. If only he knew the irony behind his statement. “Yamato, I wish I could be honest with you,” I said. “I wish I could convince you to give the call one more chance. I wish, more than anything, that I could tell you I love you and hear you say it back to me. Even if that never happens, I’ll be ok as long as you’re happy. Please don’t be sad.”</p><p>“You don’t have to sound so upset, it’s making me feel bad,” Yamato replied with a forced chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Ok… Ok! I’ll give it one more try.”</p><p>Hearing that, I perked up. This was it, this was the moment of truth that decided whether or not I made the right decision to get so involved. I watched eagerly as Yamato typed in Takeru’s number again and waited for him to pick up. The ringing didn’t last as long this time before I could hear Takeru’s voice again.</p><p>“Who is this?,” he said. “Listen, if you have the wrong number-”</p><p>“Um, Takeru? It’s me… Yamato. It’s, uh- It’s been awhile hasn’t it?,” Yamato responded awkwardly. He sounded so nervous it was giving me slight second hand embarrassment.</p><p>Luckily, Takeru didn’t seem phased in the least. “Yamato?! Is that really you?!,” he exclaimed. “It’s been years, why are you calling so suddenly?”</p><p>“Er, I just felt like talking to my little brother again. I didn’t call at a bad time, did I?”</p><p>“No, of course you didn’t! I was just surprised. Do you want to say hi to mom?”</p><p>“No!,” yamato said, probably a little too loudly and a little too quickly. “No, it’s ok. I just wanted to make a quick call to see if you maybe wanted to hang out tomorrow? It’s a Sunday, so there’s no school, but if you’re busy it’s ok…”</p><p>“I’d love to hang out tomorrow! I wasn’t planning on doing anything else anyways.”</p><p>“Cool, cool. Is there anywhere you want to meet up?”</p><p>“Well, there’s this café I like to go to pretty often. I’ll text you the time and address later.”</p><p>“That sounds good, see you tomorrow, then?”</p><p>“Yeah! I’m looking forward to it!”</p><p>After that short conversation, Yamato and Takeru said their goodbyes and hung up. There was a brief moment of absolute silence before Yamato face planted into the kitchen table with a massive sigh of relief. “I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!,” he said. “But it did go well, so I can’t complain. I can’t believe it, though, I’m going to see Takeru tomorrow!”</p><p>Yamato’s phone vibrated with a new text, he looked at it, and then I could see reality settle in on his face. “Oh god, I’m gonna see Takeru tomorrow.”</p><p>It was going to be a very long and very dramatic night. Well, at least the front door was still cracked open so I could leave at any time.</p><p>~~~</p><p>Since the following day was a Sunday and I had no school, I wasted no time in making my way to Yamato’s place. It’s not like I had anything better to do and besides, Yamato was almost certainly a walking disaster at the moment. The tiniest thing would probably set him off on an anxiety attack if I’m being completely honest. He could probably use the back-up, even if that back-up came in the form of a cat. I’ve heard therapy animals can be pretty effective, just forget about the part where I wasn’t trained to be a therapist in any way.</p><p>Sure enough, when I got there, Yamato was practically destroying his closet from the way he looked through his clothes. He would take something off the rack, look at it for all of about five seconds before deciding it wasn’t good enough, and then haphazardly throw it somewhere random. He didn’t even notice my presence at the door until he accidentally threw a shirt at me and I meowed.</p><p>“Oh shit- sorry Gabu!,” Yamato apologized as he lifted the shirt off of me. “I guess I got a little too caught up in figuring out what to wear.”</p><p>I didn’t say anything back, knowing it wouldn’t help, and just shook out my fur before scratching at my collar. Speaking of which, I found out that my collar works the same as my clothes do when I switch between human and cat. Which is to say it doesn’t matter if I keep it on or not thanks to whatever convenient magic is a part of my mask. </p><p>Anyways, while I did that, Yamato went straight back to agonizing over something as simple as an outfit. There wasn’t anything I could do other than watch him with morbid curiosity as to how someone could possibly worry over everything ever, so instead I started looking around for a bag. Preferably one that was just big enough for me to fit in, in case Yamato wanted to take me along with him to his meeting with Takeru. Even if he didn’t want to, I’ll do my best to beg him to. Both because I’m curious to see how it’ll go and because if something does happen, I’ll be there for him.</p><p>Luckily, I managed to find a nice canvas bag stashed away under his bed. It was the perfect size for the job. Gripping the strap with my teeth, I pulled it out from under the bed before stepping inside and loafing. I waited there for a while until Yamato finally turned around and noticed me.</p><p>“Oh, do you wanna come along, too?,” he asked. I meowed a yes. “Thank god, I might explode if I have to go by myself.</p><p>I knew that would happen. I’ll just call it my “Yamato Foresight”.</p><p> </p><p>By the time Yamato finally finished getting ready in spite of his constant mental breakdowns and overthinking, we barely had enough time to make it to the café that Takeru specified. Even then, Yamato still felt it was necessary to rush there, making for a very rough ride. He carried the bag I was in over his shoulder and I ended up getting tossed around inside the bag as he ran. When I returned to human form, there was no doubt that I was going to end up with bruises. Personally, I don’t think the rush was warranted since we still somehow managed to get there before Takeru did.</p><p>I didn’t get the chance to see what café we’re at since I’m pretty much confined to the darkness of the bag, but it’s not like it mattered too much. All that mattered was that I could see Yamato from the small opening of the bag, I could hear what was going on around us, and that my bag was placed on the chair right next to Yamato’s so I could easily reach him and he could reach me. So long as no one saw I was here, then Yamato wouldn’t get kicked out for having an animal in the café and everything would be fine. Well, that would be the case if Yamato didn’t look so nervous at the moment. The best I could do for him right now was stick my head out of the opening just enough to lay it on his thigh, hoping it would help calm him down a little. He reached down to pet me in turn and from how the shaking movement smoothed out a little, I could tell I was at least a small help.</p><p>Then the bell above the entrance chimed and I knew Takeru arrived from how Yamato completely froze up. I wanted to get a good look at Takeru, but I had no choice other than to hide back in the bag. Instead, I heard someone pull out a chair from across the table and say, “Yamato, hey! It’s good to see you.” So that was what Takeru sounded like in person. If only I could see him, though he probably looked similar to his brother anyways.</p><p>“It’s good to see you, too. Glad you could make it,” Yamato responded. Surprisingly, it came out even and natural instead of nervous like I thought it would.</p><p>“Sorry if I kept you waiting. Have you ordered anything yet?”</p><p>“Oh, no, I just got here myself. I haven’t gotten anything.”</p><p>“Really? Well, in that case, I usually order chai tea from this place, but I recommend their iced coffee. It’s pretty good.”</p><p>“I guess that’s what I’ll get, then.”</p><p>Right on cue, a waitress came by to ask what the brothers wanted and they made their orders. I really, really wanted to get something too, but the only thing I could do to convey that was headbutt Yamato’s thigh through the bag I was in. Luckily, Yamato was smart enough to get the hint and also asked the waitress for a glass of milk alongside what he was already getting. That wasn’t my first choice, honestly. Still, I am just a cat at the moment, so it’s not like I get much of a choice regardless.</p><p>“Anyways, how are you doing these days?,” Yamato asked.</p><p>“I’m doing good. Great, actually, since you finally decided to call me,” Takeru chuckled. “You should’ve seen the look on Mom’s face! She was so surprised when I told her you called, I thought she might faint.”</p><p>“Is that right… I almost wish I could’ve been there to see it.”</p><p>“I think if you actually showed up, she would’ve had a heart attack. Mom does want to see you, though. You should stop by sometime to say hi.”</p><p>“Uh- I’ll think about it. Y’know you could stop by to see Dad, too. If you wanted to, anyways. Just, maybe not anytime soon. He still lives at work half the time.”</p><p>“Somehow, I’m not surprised, but yeah, I’d be down for that.”</p><p>Just then, the waitress returned and set down our drinks. When she walked away, Yamato moved the glass of milk to set it down on the chair right next to me. It came with a straw luckily, so all I had to do was stick my head out to take a sip. Unfortunately, being a cat made that much harder to do. Still, it was nice and cool and refreshing, especially for regular milk.</p><p>“Hey, uh, what are you doing with that milk?,” Takeru asked.</p><p>“Huh? Oh. I er- I may have brought a cat with me,” Yamato answered awkwardly.</p><p>“What? A cat? You have a pet cat? I thought you had a dog.”</p><p>“I… did. He died a little while ago, though.” Yamato sounded like he wasn’t too bothered by the reminder, but I could tell he was made at least a little sad. He did start petting me again, after all.</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”</p><p>“It’s fine. I’m just glad he went peacefully. Besides, I’ve got a cat now and he’s pretty weird, but he’s great.”</p><p>“Weird how?”</p><p>“Wanna know how I got your number?”</p><p>“Now that you mention it, yeah, I’ve been wondering about that. I certainly didn’t give it to you and neither did Mom.”</p><p>“Well, my new cat brought it to me. He just showed up to my apartment yesterday with a notecard that had your name and number on it.”</p><p>“How did he get it in the first place?”</p><p>“Beats me. It’s not like I could recognize the handwriting on it and guess who it was from. Either way, without this little guy, I wouldn’t have been able to contact you.”</p><p>“You weren’t kidding when you said you had a weird cat.”</p><p>I probably shouldn’t have, but I ended up saying, “Wow, rude. I’m only right here.”</p><p>“Ah- sh! Be quiet, Gabu!,” Yamato harshly whispered to me. “I don’t wanna get kicked out!”</p><p>“If you want, we can leave after we finish our drinks and go hang out around the city,” Takeru suggested. “Then you can show me Gabu and not have to worry about him drawing attention.”</p><p>“Sure, that works for me. I’ve gotta warn you though, Gabu is pretty cute and really soft, too. I don’t think you’ll be able to resist his charm.”</p><p>“Oh, really? Then in that case, I may just try to take him off your hands.”</p><p>“Uh, no. I don’t think so.”</p><p>Even though I was worried about how this whole thing would go, it seemed my worries were misplaced. Yamato and his brother managed to get along really well despite being apart for so long. If one didn’t know about their situation already, they probably wouldn’t realize the two hadn’t seen each other in years. It was a relief and I could tell Yamato was really happy, more than he looked. It made me feel like I was doing the right thing for him. I only hoped this would keep up.</p><p>~~~</p><p>“Hey Taichi, are you gonna tell me what you did with Takeru’s number?,” Hikari asked me after I got home from Yamato’s place. “Because I heard something veeeeery interesting today.”</p><p>I stopped working on my math homework and turned to look at her. She was giving me a cat-like grin from where she sat on the bottom bunk. “Like what?,” I asked in return.</p><p>“Hm, well, where to start… Oh, I know! How about the fact that I spent the last hour before you came home getting my ear talked off by Takeru about how he got to talk to his brother for the first time in years. Seriously, he kept going on and on about it, I thought he might never hang up.”</p><p>“I may have had something to do with it,” I admitted. “That notecard with Takeru’s number you gave me? I gave it to Yamato so he could call his brother. But, uh, could you please not mention it to anyone? I didn’t exactly give it to Yamato upfront, so he doesn’t know about what I’ve done.”</p><p>“I’m not gonna ask what you mean by that, but I promise I’ll keep it a secret,” Hikari said. “Besides, it made me glad to hear how happy Takeru was. He hasn’t been that excited about something in forever.”</p><p>“That’s good to hear.” Even though I set out with a goal focussed on only Yamato, I ended up helping two people with their lives for the better. My one decision to take the noh mask that fateful night had consequences that reached even further than I thought. It was more proof that I couldn’t give up either side of myself, no matter what that mask seller said to me.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>this is the end of the chapters I have for now. For those of you who want more, I am sorry. You'll be waiting quite awhile if my other fics' upload rates are anything to go by. I just want to make that VERY CLEAR. Anyways, it is time I disappear into the void.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aight, so here's an actual note. I watched A Whisker Away back in August and I liked it so much that I practically plowed through and shat out three chapters for this AU within a week. The side affect is that I kind of got super burned out on it. I want to finish it someday, but for now here's this. Even if it's unfinished I actually kind of liked how it was turning out so it'd be a waste to do nothing with it like so many of my other fics I have saved on google docs. Anyways, please enjoy and don't get your hopes up for updates any time soon!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>